by Laura Mauney
The 2010 LA Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center is the fifth I've attended on behalf of my employer, PriceQuotes.com, in as many years.
Over the course of the half decade, I've watched automakers move from teasing visitors with wall-posters about assorted alternative fuel concept cars, to cautious presentations of upcoming hybrids carefully hidden by the large pickups and SUVs that used to be all the rage, to this year's bold and beautiful Plug-In Hybrid, 100% EV and Hydrogen Fuel Cell showcases.
Gone are the days when one's hopes of finding green vehicles at the auto show resided solely with displays by evergreen Toyota and Honda, or at booths tucked downstairs with all those super-cool aftermarket products in Kentia Hall.
Whereas 2009's LA Auto Show showed serious improvement in the green category, especially by America's top two brands, Chevrolet and Ford, in 2010 almost every major automaker showed off at least one PEV (Plug-In Electric Vehicle) to the public, either as a concept or as a 2011 release. Several more automakers (beyond Honda and Toyota) refreshingly have more than one green car in the works.
Along with the exciting array of upcoming PEVs from established automakers, two startup electric car companies, Fisker and Coda, held space in the main showroom at the West Hall this year, signifying that there is more to green power in the marketplace than electricity.
Green cars are not just finally happening, in other words, but the field is hotly competitive, all the better for business and consumers, and the planet and its life as a whole.
Most heartening is the emergence of cooperative ventures between automakers and electricity providers, such as Southern California Edison (SCE), as well as in New York and other regions where PEVs will be rolled out in 2011. Power grids in major markets are being upgraded to handle increased demand, and consumers are being educated in the how-tos of PEV power management.
The product group for PEVs will include all-electric models that can travel extended distances (up to 120 miles) on a single charge, and models that revert to gasoline power on the road when a shorter term battery charge runs out. Just as with our laptops and cellphones, PEVs will come with their own chargers, which will be installed at the owners' homes.
Though the models have been initially marketed as urban cars, ideal for short distance commuting, I asked questions about using the all-electric PEVs for long distance travel. While most electric car makers will provide real time satellite / roadside assistance for stranded drivers suffering from dead batteries, assurances were also rampant about future development of roadside charging bays, some that can get a car up and running again in as little as 15 minutes.
(Imagine one day pulling up and plugging in at your favorite restaurant or motel along the interstate, recharging both your car and yourself and fellow passengers in a single stop! This scenario remains futuristic, but...)!
Federal tax breaks on alternative fuel vehicles combined with fairly large savings by not using gasoline (electricity remains much cheaper) will take a nice edge off the moderate+ PEV pricing for the time being.
Demand is already high, and while demand, as always, drives production, it will also, hopefully, create a future pricing environment across the many models coming up that will make PEVs affordable for most all of us in the years ahead.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell models, most notably being marketed as lease vehicles by Honda and Mercedes-Benz, are still being targeted to upscale drivers right now, and the fuel is not as easily obtainable as electricity. Nonetheless, progress is happening in this arena as well.
To find out more about the 2011 PEV and Fuel Cell releases, as well as future green cars, take a look at PriceQuotes.com's Facebook album for the 2010 LA Auto Show. The slideshow highlights selected PEVs and Hydrogen Fuel Cell models presented at the show (my apologies to those left out), as well as some of my favorites in the (now traditional) standard-hybrid and non-hybrid categories.
For more information about adapting your home energy usage to include a PEV, visit SCE.
Click this link to view photos of the new PEVs and other cars at The 2010 LA Auto Show.
